Under Armour speedsuits blamed for poor US speedskating performances

Mr. Obvious wrote:

You think it is unusual that the Dutch are winning a lot of medals in speed skating?

To the degree they have, yes.

I also agree that the US wouldn't have benefited to any great degree but the "what's going on" antennae should be up on this one.

American's try so hard at cheating, the "secret bobsled" design isn't working out either. USOC should stay out of the hardware game and stick to fixing figure skating events.

Would they be faster in a Speedo or do they have to wear a suit to stay warm?

If it is Under Armour's fault, it wouldn't be the first time they made claims about their products that didn't live up to the hype. A few years ago they marketed Under Armour Performance Mouthwear powered by Armourbite technology. They had treadmill studies showing lower lactate values with the mouthguard in.

I'm a dentist (UCONN Class of 1981) and if clenching during runnning was common, maybe the studies would make sense. If clenching into an altered bite position could possibly make you run faster, maybe the studies would make sense. But that's not how people who run fast actually run (except maybe at the very end of a race) they run with their mouths open! So I never paid the hefty license fee that Under Armour charged dentists for the privilege of delivering their brand of mouthguard.

under armour claims everything about everything they make.look at the new tech hunting wear,you will be able to kill 17% more Deer.

http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/ua-m-ignite-camo-ii-sl/pid1240778-341

coldasice, willingtosacrifice wrote:

Would they be faster in a Speedo or do they have to wear a suit to stay warm?

Hair on the body would probably increase drag.

Here is some analysis. The author went back and looked at times and tactics too.

At least they aren't wearing shorts on top of their speedsuits.

Modesty be damned!

While I'm not a fan of Under Amour (mostly because of their roided out mannequins in the stores), it is NOT the suit causing the slow down.

I put it down to these four things

1) Altitude training

2) Too long of glide learned from skating on fast ice

3) poor training/and BAD tapering

4) An organization almost as corrupt and fu#ked up as the USATF

Most of our skaters train in Salt Lake City at 4500 feet altitude on the fastest (BY FAR) ice in the world. Super fast ice allows/and trains you to glide slightly longer for each stroke.

Heading to Sochi, our team left SLC and travelled to italy and skated at an outdoor rink close to sea level where the effects of altitude lost their advantage after several weeks.

If you watched the Dutch skaters (and even Dan Jansen commented on this) they were taking super short strokes and had super fast turnover. The way you HAVE to skate on slow ice.

Steve on a cell in Brooklyn wrote:

Mr. Obvious wrote:

You think it is unusual that the Dutch are winning a lot of medals in speed skating?

To the degree they have, yes.

I also agree that the US wouldn't have benefited to any great degree but the "what's going on" antennae should be up on this one.

I'd have to do some statistical analysis and historical research to see if the results are within normal variance or not. I just don't think ipso facto that the Dutch are doping because they are winning a lot.

Very interesting. Thanks for contributing something of actual substance to this thread.

Steve on a cell in Brooklyn wrote:

flow do wrote:

Have they thought that maybe the speedsuits are fine, but the Dutch are doping?

When something unusual is in the results then something unusual is probably going on behind the scenes. Whether that is doping or something else who knows but it's something.

Do you realize the Dutch have long dominated speedskating?

US having a bad year. I suspect the early poor performances and the suit questions have just put doubt into each skater.

One comment I read was that the US skaters did not adjust the the "slower" ice. Where the US skaters were trying to glide (that works well on the ice at altitude in places like SLC), this ice requires you to "stroke" more often (that should thrill the sophomores) and glide less.

I think the glide issue has some merit, but altitude training would be a good thing. Team trained there for Vancouver and Torino. I know Torino itself is at sea level, but I am not sure where the speed skating venue was.

The skaters in SLC live high and come down to the rink. They also use supplemental oxygen to train.

I am not sure how much time Shani spends in SLC.

I saw that most of the US skaters are close to times they skated earlier in the season, but the Dutch are rocking it.

Murry Buttons wrote:

American's try so hard at cheating, the "secret bobsled" design isn't working out either.

It's early in the competition, but the US bobsled teams are on pace for their best showing in recent history. The "secret bobsled" doesn't seem to be hurting them much.

I think my point about altitude is that you really need to race right when coming down from altitude, not skating for two weeks in italy first.

It was easy to see visually with Shani that he was trying to glide out each stroke and he looked like he was in molasses. It was frustrating for me to watch (while screaming at the TV).

When you spend too much time on each leg, that will fry the leg. It's progressive, as you can imagine, that once fatigue starts and you continue gliding too long you're gonna fry.

Some argue that the skaters raced in Sochi several months ago and did better. While ice conditions can certainly change, tapering may have come into play a bit too.

Like I said, I don't think you can blame it on one thing, but a culmination of several factors with the most important factor being BAD COACHING. That they didn't wear the suits in competition is an utter failure of the coaches. All of these need to be addressed

I'm appalled that the U.S. speed skaters would throw Under Armour under the bus. My number one rule is never harm a sponsor. I've frequently had to heavily modify a sponsor's shoe because it frankly wasn't a very good product. But, I never complained and never would bite the hand that feeds. Those speed skaters should have simply taped up the vents and kept their mouths shut.

luv2run wrote:

Do you realize the Dutch have long dominated speedskating?

US having a bad year. I suspect the early poor performances and the suit questions have just put doubt into each skater.

One comment I read was that the US skaters did not adjust the the "slower" ice. Where the US skaters were trying to glide (that works well on the ice at altitude in places like SLC), this ice requires you to "stroke" more often (that should thrill the sophomores) and glide less.

The Dutch have won more than 2/3 of the medals (19 so far, with more to be contested). If you look at the past 3 Olympics at least, they were about even with USA and Canada in the medal count. Now it's not even funny, or interesting. Like NOP, or Athletics Kenya, at the very least they're onto something.

Agree that USA blew it by not training at a facility like Sochi. They should have gone over there the past three years, studied the ice, etc. and set up their facilities to simulate that environment.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

I'd have to do some statistical analysis and historical research to see if the results are within normal variance or not. I just don't think ipso facto that the Dutch are doping because they are winning a lot.

However, something's up.

....and to answer the question asked elsewhere, I'm well aware of the Dutch history in the sport.

I loved your post. It seemed very knowledgeable but you were wrong when you said they trained not at altitude in Italy. In fact, they trained at altitude in Italy even though many coaches said they should train at low altitude as shown here:

But I've done a little googling around and found out that you are right. Here is the answer to why they suck. Yout are correct. It's the ice.

As a baltimore, resident, I'm supportive of Under Armour and think the Wall Street Journal is just trying to lead a story. It was an interesting idea - blame the suits - but when the results didn't change when they switched suits, it seems wrong for them to put Under Armour on the front page of the paper today.

At least they don't shave their legs!